“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.” -Victor Hugo

“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.”― Kurt Vonnegut

“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”― Franz Kafka

“What happens when people open their hearts?”…“They get better.”― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

Yesterday we undertook a delightful jaunt into the dark mysteries of Central Florida, near Orlando on a splendid cool winter’s day. Part of the Florida Trail System (many trails set up by volunteers marking trees in the forest) loomed up in a Wetlands area. We could not resist, so we sauntered forth on our latest adventure.Odd, but the trail seemed to start by a gate. Cattle stood nearby. Where was the trail? We saw a sign saying “Take Care of Cattle.” Do we enter this field?

A knotted rope fastened the gate and I undid it, we shuffled though, and tied it shut behind us.

I suddenly realized we were right in the cattle field, and several huge bovines were ambling nearby. I spotted the sign for the Trail across part of this field past a number of cattle, so it meant you are to join them briefly in their pasture to…